Hershey's Kisses
by EnglishCivilWar
Summary: Keith is sad. Lance tries to cook.


**Author's Note:** **Written for day 2 of Klance Week (Love/Hate). Mostly love, not hate.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

It wasn't unusual for Keith to wake up sad.

Most days, he wouldn't. Most days, he'd jump out of bed focused and ready for anything: a Galra attack, a planet to save, training to do. His boyfriend's latest shenanigans, which always produced some excitement.

But some days, he'd wake up with a slight sadness pervading his mind. Not anything serious, not sadness that dragged his bones down deep into the mattress, or sadness that made him lonely and numb. Just a small bit. Sadness that he felt for no discernible reason. And he _tried,_ he tried as hard as he could to understand it, but he'd soon realized it wasn't something to understand.

He would just feel unhappy.

He felt unhappy today.

The ceiling looked dull to him. Paint was flaking off. Keith pulled his blanket up to his chin and watched it, thinking of nothing in particular.

It was still early. He always woke up early, earlier than the rest of the Paladins. The only other one up was Shiro, who didn't sleep much. Something about his dreams. Keith understood that he shouldn't ask about it.

 _Maybe he'll keep me company._ They did that, sometimes. When it was this early and Keith wasn't feeling too good. He'd wrap his blanket around his shoulders and pad to Shiro's room, and Shiro would sit with him and plan out battle techniques, because he knew that made Keith feel better

Keith rolled over. _But I don't want to do that today,_ he thought, sighing. And he didn't want to be alone, either. He willed Lance to wake up and start bouncing off the walls, 'cause that always kept Keith occupied, but he knew it wouldn't happen for a few hours. Lance was a late sleeper.

Keith's eyes fell closed. _You have to get up._

He didn't want to get up.

 _If you don't get up now, you'll never get up._

Keith got up.

It was a process. A process he usually was very strict about, but not today. He didn't make his bed, didn't comb his hair. He did brush his teeth, though. And he did get dressed. He grabbed a blue sweater from under his pillow, which he kept there because it had a good smell, Lance's smell. Cinnamon. Lance had left it the first time he'd slept over in Keith's room, and had apparently forgotten its existence, because he never asked for it back. _I hope he doesn't remember._

Keith tugged it on over his shirt. It was thick and just a bit too large for him, the sleeves coming down past his hands. He sat on his bed and tugged them down further, relishing in the warmth, as warm as Lance's embrace. Lance was a really good hugger. _I hope he wakes up soon. I'm in the mood for a hug._

He breathed out slowly. _Get something to eat. You'll feel better. Then train._ He heaved himself up and made his way to the kitchen, his shoulders weighed down by something heavy.

The door slid open, and Keith was met with the wreckage from a natural disaster.

Plates were broken. Shards of metal were piled up in the sink. Cupboard doors were wrenched open. Goo covered every surface imaginable. It was like a _tornado_ had swept through. Keith stared at everything with wide eyes, stunned speechless.

And in the center of the room stood Lance.

He looked like a _wreck_. His normally perfect hair was completely windswept, his shirt was on inside out, and Keith was fairly certain that he'd worn those jeans yesterday. His hands and forearms were stained green. He was bent over something on the counter, a stream of curses flying out of his mouth.

Keith blinked. _What the HELL is going on?!_ "L-Lance?" he stuttered, unsure if what he was seeing was even real.

Lance yelped, jumping and knocking his elbow on a cupboard door, which made him shout some more. He turned to face the entryway, his eyes wild, and jumped _again_ when he saw Keith. "AH! Keith! What are you doing here?" he exclaimed, his hands flying up to the crown of his head.

Keith stared at him. "I wanted to get some food," he said slowly. "From the kitchen. This _is_ the kitchen, right?" _It's not even recognizable anymore,_ he thought, shock numbing his brain.

"No! No, no, no, no, you shouldn't be in here, you shouldn't even be _awake_ yet!" Lance began racing around the room, trying unsuccessfully to hide whatever it was he'd been making. " _Dang it,_ Keith why do you have to get up so early?!"

Something clicked in Keith's brain. "Lance," he sighed, finally piecing together what had happened, "if you wanted to try cooking again, why didn't you just ask Hunk for help? You know he'd be happy to. Now we have to clean all this up." He felt his nerves prickle with annoyance. He wouldn't get to train this morning, thanks to Lance.

Lance shook his head, still zipping from spot to spot. "No, I had to do this myself, it, it was very important that I did this completely on my own, and -" He whipped around suddenly and pointed his finger at Keith. "You! Go back to bed right this second."

Keith's jaw dropped, his annoyance turning to complete anger. " _What?_ You're not the boss of me!"

"I don't care, you have to go back to bed!" Lance still hadn't lowered his hand. "Pretend you didn't see any of this! This has all been a weird dream!"

 _That's how I know this ISN'T a dream,_ Keith thought wryly. _If it was, you wouldn't be saying that._ "I'm NOT going back to bed, Lance. We have to clean this up before the others get here." He crossed his arms in front of his chest, feeling very frustrated. He'd wanted Lance to make his day _better,_ not _worse._

Lance clenched and unclenched his fists. "But this isn't how it's supposed to go, this, this isn't how I planned it," he stammered, his voice wavering.

Keith frowned, confusion melting away his anger. "What do you mean? What were you planning?"

There was a pause. "It was supposed to be a surprise…" Lance said quietly. He bit his lip.

"A surprise?" Keith had no idea what was going on. "Surprise for what? Who?"

Lance clasped his hands behind his back, his face scrunching in agitation. He swallowed thickly. "Well, well, I, uh, well, today is actually a pretty special day, you know? Pretty special." He swung his arms back and forth. "And I wanted to do something special. For you. 'Cause the day is special, and you're, um, special. To me."

Keith felt his face flush. "R-Really?" He suddenly deeply regretted yelling a moment ago.

"Yeah. Um. Yes." Lance nodded. He kept nodding. "Very special, in fact. So, since there's so much SPECIAL, I made - well, I guess, I _tried_ to make, since it didn't turn out very well -" He stopped. His hands twisted around each other unconsciously as he worked out what to say.

Keith held his breath, his heart beating faster. He knew not to interrupt Lance when he was thinking, but he was eager to know what was going on. _And Lance looks really, really adorable when he's flustered._

Lance finally sighed and waved his arms around the kitchen. "I wanted to make you breakfast. In bed. Breakfast in bed. For Valentine's Day. But it kind of exploded, and you kind of already woke up, so now we're here, and everything is ruined." He swallowed again, sadness and disappointment evident on his face.

Keith blinked, taking a moment to process what Lance just said. Then, something very warm began glowing in his chest, unfurling like hot chocolate throughout his body. _He did this? He did this for me?_ No one had ever done something like this for Keith. There had never BEEN anyone to do it. _Lance tried to make me breakfast. Lance got up early, which is very hard for him to do, went to the kitchen, and tried to cook for me. He tried to cook me something, which he would then surprise me with when I woke up._ A small smile flitted over his lips.

Lance was looking away, his expression still twisted with defeat. There was a glob of goo smeared on his nose. Keith felt his heart squeeze. _I don't deserve him. No one in the universe deserves him._ Keith took a breath, then tiptoed over and pressed a gentle kiss against Lance's cheek.

Lance started, turning to look at Keith with a surprised expression. "You're, you're not mad?" he asked, his voice small.

Keith raised his eyebrows. "Of course not. This was - this is really sweet of you, Lance. Thank you."

Lance's cheeks colored. "But it didn't work. I messed up," he pointed out.

 _No, you didn't,_ Keith thought, because he realized that he was feeling _two_ things, now. The slight sadness, yes, that wasn't going to go away magically, but there was also love there as well.

And there was lots more of it than the sadness.

"It doesn't matter. It's the effort that counts," Keith replied. His smile widened. "Look, here's my breakfast." He swiped the goo off of Lance's nose with his thumb and stuck it in his mouth. "Tasty."

A crooked grin worked its way onto Lance's face. He huffed out a laugh. "Of course it is, that's my specialty dish," he joked, resting his hands on Keith's hips. "I only serve it on holidays like today."

Keith was about to say something else, but stopped. "Oh," he said, feeling a jolt of shame, "I didn't get you anything. I'm sorry, I didn't know it was Valentine's Day."

Lance shrugged, waving it off. "That's okay. I mean, it's not _technically_ Valentine's Day for us, since we're in space. I just figured it out by comparing Allura's Altean calendar to an Earth one."

Keith still felt awkward. "You're sure it's all right?"

"Of course. Besides, I have you," Lance said with a smile, leaning in. "I don't need any presents or anything. Well, except maybe my sweater back." He tweaked Keith's sleeve, raising an eyebrow.

Keith's face turned red. "Uh, crap, sorry, I didn't mean to-"

Lance laughed, the sound echoing off the high walls. "I'm kidding, you can keep it," he said, his eyes sparkling with humor. He pulled Keith closer, wrapping his arms around him in a loose hug, and Keith's heart sang happily. "Hey, maybe we'll end up on, like, a Hershey's planet, or something," Lance said brightly. "Hershey's chocolate is really good for Valentine's."

Keith blinked, an idea popping into his head. _I don't usually say things like this, but..._ "I-I can give you some Hershey's Kisses right now, if you want," he flirted, stuttering only slightly.

Lance looked at him with interest. "Really? You have some?"

" _No_." Keith rolled his eyes. "I meant like _this."_ He cupped Lance's face in his hands and peppered kisses over his cheeks and nose, then planted a big one on his forehead.

" _Oh."_ Lance's eyes widened. Then he giggled. "Can I have some more?"

Keith smirked and leaned forward, capturing Lance's lips with his own. _Yes,_ he thought, folding his arms around Lance's neck, _definitely more love than sadness._

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 **Author's Note: Hershey's Kisses are delicious.**


End file.
